Rationale

The purpose of many businesses is to grow and/or to remain competitive and sustainable as such, business managers need quality information for decision making. Increasingly, managers are viewing information not just as an input for making better decisions, but also as an important strategic asset and tool. Research plays an important function in providing relevant, timely and useable information to facilitate better decision making.

Synopsis

An understanding of the research process is important in making business decisions because it enables the decision-maker to be critical of information received. This course takes a practical approach to business research. In this course students will be exposed to different research designs, explore the relationships between research questions and research designs, interpret data and turn raw data into useable, relevant and meaningful management information that can be used to facilitate management decision making.

Objectives

On successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

demonstrate an understanding of the research process and the elements important in conducting research and in interpreting research data

demonstrate a moderate level of numeracy skills sufficient to make management recommendations from quantitative and qualitative data and statistical analysis

provide evidence of advanced problem solving and critical thinking skills to identify research problems and to synthesise and integrate secondary and primary sources of information to make recommendations to solve these problems and to inform management decisions

demonstrate the ability to communicate interpretations from analysis and justification of recommendations to research problems in a clear, concise and accurate manner

demonstrate their ability to complete required work on time and in the format requested to the standards specified.

Topics

Description

Weighting(%)

1.

The value of research to business and ethics

9.00

2.

Secondary research

9.00

3.

Primary research, problem definition and research design

9.00

4.

Sample design and procedure

9.00

5.

Designing and conducting focus groups and in-depth interviews

9.00

6.

Designing and conducting observation research

9.00

7.

Designing and conducting survey research

9.00

8.

Analysing, interpreting and presenting the results of descriptive data

9.00

9.

Analysing, interpreting and presenting the results of differences in data

9.00

10.

Analysing, interpreting and presenting the results of relationships in data

9.00

11.

Drawing conclusions and presenting the results to update management information

10.00

Text and materials required to be purchased or accessed

ALL textbooks and materials available to be purchased can be sourced from USQ's Online Bookshop (unless otherwise stated). (https://bookshop.usq.edu.au/bookweb/subject.cgi?year=2013&sem=01&subject1=MKT3001)

Assessment details

The examination is scheduled to be held in the end-of-semester examination period. Students will be advised of the official examination date after the timetable has been finalised.

Important assessment information

Attendance requirements:
It is the students' responsibility to attend and participate appropriately in all activities (such as lectures, tutorials, laboratories and practical work) scheduled for them, and to study all material provided to them or required to be accessed by them to maximise their chance of meeting the objectives of the course and to be informed of course-related activities and administration.

Requirements for students to complete each assessment item satisfactorily:
To satisfactorily complete an individual assessment item a student must achieve at least 50% of the marks. (Depending upon the requirements in Statement 4 below, students may not have to satisfactorily complete each assessment item to receive a passing grade in this course.)

Penalties for late submission of required work:
If students submit assignments after the due date without prior approval of the examiner, then a penalty of 5% of the total marks gained by the student for the assignment may apply for each working day late up to ten working days at which time a mark of zero may be recorded.

Requirements for student to be awarded a passing grade in the course:
To be assured of receiving a passing grade a student must achieve at least 50% of the total weighted marks available for the course.

Method used to combine assessment results to attain final grade:
The final grades for students will be assigned on the basis of the aggregate of the weighted marks obtained for each of the summative assessment items in the course.

Examination information:
This is a restricted examination. Candidates are allowed access to specific materials during the examination. The only materials that candidates may use in the examination for this course are (i) Writing materials: non-electronic and free from material which could give the student an unfair advantage in the examination; (ii) Translation dictionaries: with the Examiner's approval, candidates may, take an appropriate non-electronic translation dictionary into the examination. This will be subject to perusal and, if it is found to contain annotations or markings that could give the candidate an unfair advantage, it may be removed from the candidate's possession until the appropriate disciplinary action is completed.

Examination period when Deferred/Supplementary examinations will be held:
Any Deferred or Supplementary examinations for this course will be held during the next examination period.

University Student Policies:
Students should read the USQ policies: Definitions, Assessment and Student Academic Misconduct to avoid actions which might contravene University policies and practices. These policies can be found at http://policy.usq.edu.au.

Assessment notes

Assignments:
(i) The due date for an assignment is the date by which a student must submit the assignment to the USQ.

(ii) Students must retain a copy of each assignment submitted for assessment. This must be produced within 24 hours if required by the examiner.

(iii) The examiner may grant an extension of the due date of an assignment in extenuating circumstances. Applications for extensions should be in writing and must include supporting documentary evidence. Extensions are only granted in unforeseen and uncontrollable circumstances. The examiner shall consider all documentary evidence (including statement from a doctor, employer, counsellor or independent member of the community as appropriate) accompanying an application for extension and decide on the outcome. Length of extensions: Up to one week extension (five working days) may be granted if a signed statement with supporting documentation is sent with the assignment, proving that an unforeseen and uncontrollable circumstance caused the delay, for example unusual and unpredictable work or family commitments. If the signed statement and supporting documentation does not show that unforeseen and uncontrollable circumstances were present for the days claimed, then the normal reduction in marks for a late assignment of 5% per working day will apply.

(iv) Extensions beyond one week are not allowed unless express permission is obtained from the examiner. Extensions beyond one week are only granted in extreme circumstance because model answers may be distributed after this time. If you are likely to require an extension for a longer period than one week, you must contact the examiner for advice. In most cases, you will be required to complete an alternative make-up assignment. However, make-up assignments are only granted if you have passed all other pieces of assessment for the course.

Medical extensions: In the case of an application for extension for medical reasons, the documentation should include a statement from a doctor stating: the date the medical condition began or changed; how the condition affected the student's ability to study; when it became apparent that the student could not submit the assignment. As a rule, you will be granted an extension for the number of working days covered on a medical certificate. In the case of a medical extension, you do not need to contact the examiner unless you require an extension of longer than one week.

Extensions for family/personal reasons: In the case of an application for extension for family/personal reasons, the documentation should include a statement from a doctor, counsellor or independent member of the community stating: the date the student's personal circumstances began or changed; how the circumstances affected the student's ability to complete the assignment; when it became apparent that the student could not complete the assignment. In the case of an extension for family/personal reasons you must contact the examiner before the due date to discuss the reason for the extension and to negotiate the length of an extension if granted.

Extensions for employment-related reasons: In the case of an application for extension for employment-related reasons, the documentation should include a statement from the student's employer stating: the date the student's employment began or the conditions of employment changed; how this prevents the student from completing the assignment. In the case of an extension for employment-related reasons you must contact the examiner before the due date to discuss the reason for the extension and to negotiate the length of an extension if granted.

Referencing in assignments:
Harvard (AGPS) is the referencing system required in this course. Students should use Harvard (AGPS) style in their assignments to format details of the information sources they have cited in their work. The Harvard (AGPS) style to be used is defined by the USQ Library's referencing guide at http://www.usq.edu.au/library/referencing.

Word count on assignments:
Students must put the 'word count' for their assignment on the front page of the assignment. The word count is the number of words in the body of the assignment report and does not include the title, executive summary, list of references or appendices. To grade an assignment a marker does not need to read more words than the word limit of the assignment.

Course weightings:
Course weightings of topics should not be interpreted as applying to the number of marks allocated to questions testing those topics in the assignments.

Deferred work:
Students who, for medical, family/personal, or employment-related reasons, are unable to complete an assignment at the scheduled time may apply to defer an assessment in a course. Such a request must be accompanied by appropriate supporting documentation. A grade of IDM (Incomplete Deferred Make-up) may be awarded.